Let’s face it: Company culture has become a buzzword.
It’s a topic that appears time and time again in every job description and interview, and it’s attributed as the most common answer when people explain why they love their job. In fact, 46 percent of job seekers cite company culture as very important when looking to apply to a company, according to Built In’s research. But exactly how and why did it become the recruitment term du jour in 2021?
If The Great Resignation is any indication, it’s because people are simply no longer willing to stick around in an environment that doesn’t support their goals, values or skill sets. Discussing positive company culture has become increasingly important because it’s apparent how many toxic ones have gone unchecked. Working for a leader who stands alongside their employees every day and understands individual employee goals holds a much greater appeal than working for a shadowy and distant figure who rarely interacts with the workforce. And when the culture is good, teams stick around.
“My manager is incredibly knowledgeable but also interested in my career path here — something I never saw in my years working in a larger, more corporate environment,” said Irvin Huang, intermediate technical support specialist at Cloudvirga.
So, sure, company culture has become a trending topic — but maybe that’s a good thing. That’s why Built In LA sat down with 10 tech experts to discuss exactly what their specific company culture means to them, and all of the exciting ways they’ve been able to grow professionally because of it.
Looking to bring some positive change into your career in the new year? Each company featured also happens to be hiring.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Innovative.
Constant innovation is essential in our performance marketing team to reflect what people want to engage with when they see our ads. Consumers are smart and they get to choose what ads they watch or skip on social media. So we are always testing different types of videos, messaging, footage, graphics and more to see what people respond to best. Efficiently learning from what works and what doesn’t requires creative agility and constant innovation so our content doesn’t stagnate.
To encourage and celebrate new creative choices, every Thursday we gather for “Transformative Thursday,” where we showcase something transformative we’ve tried that week. This is a time where we also become the biggest fans of each other’s work. There are oohs and aahs when production shares new footage, genuine laughter when the TikTok team shares their latest video and adoration when editors share their transformed cuts. People get inspired and are able to take that insight and implement it in their next projects. It has become a fun, creative safe space where we can celebrate successes and encourage innovation.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
The tremendous growth that I’ve witnessed not only for myself, but across the team, has been one of the most fulfilling and impactful developments in my career. I joined First Media’s newly created performance marketing team in July 2020. Performance marketing could feel like a foreign way to think about ads unless you’ve directly worked in the space. We started with about 15 people who were curious to know what working in this space actually meant. After a year of exploring new learnings, developing strategy and experimenting to form best practices, we proudly look at the team today and see how it has effectively grown to an innovative team of 45 people, and we are still continuing to look for more people to join our performance team.
Whether someone is producing a shoot, editing content or writing a script, everyone on the team is strategically working to understand what consumers will respond to best. People are now more thoughtful of their creative choices, open to learning from what doesn’t work and keen to innovate. The amount of growth I’ve seen in everyone has been gratifying to say the least, and I am thankful to be able to grow with such an impactful, amazing team.
First Media is a social media publishing and marketing company at the intersection of content and commerce, striving to drive the shoppable content revolution.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Progressive.
Our company culture is the contrast to what you may find in a traditional workplace culture. For example, it is focused on purpose and value rather than just profitability. My team includes dietitian nutritionists and professions in public health practices who all share the goal of supporting public health and the company’s purpose and values are aligned with it.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I have been at Ritual for three years. One of my biggest professional growth moments was getting promoted while I was almost 40 weeks pregnant, just a few weeks before I gave birth to my second child and started my 12-week maternity leave. It feels so great to work for a company that values and supports women regardless of what stage of life they are in. Pregnancy impacts women’s careers worldwide and it’s so inspiring to see Ritual paving the way for expecting moms.
Ritual is a direct-to-consumer health brand that is challenging the multivitamin industry.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Caring.
I’ve had the good fortune of working for some fantastic companies and being on many incredible teams, but StackCommerce stands out as the leader when it comes to teamwork, collaboration and care. We have a family of genuinely great people who care deeply about not just their own work, but also collaborating across departments and about their colleagues — it shows every day even in the smallest interactions. People aren’t hesitant to ask for help, whether with a work task or more personal issue, because it’s so freely given and so often offered by those looking to pitch in.
This aspect of our culture has been a part of our DNA from day one; it’s something we look for when evaluating potential team members and nurture for existing staff. I am incredibly proud to head an HR and culture team that actively recruits with this trait in mind.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
In 2020 — my third year overseeing finance, HR, and legal — I got the opportunity to test all of my professional skills by working with our founder and CEO, along with our COO, in an effort to sell the company and generate a meaningful liquidity event for our investors. I quarterbacked a sales process that included hiring and collaborating with an advisory team which ultimately led to us being acquired by global top-tier private equity firm TPG Capital.
It was a challenging but especially rewarding project, as we are a very lean team that needed to continue running day-to-day operations while dedicating a tremendous amount of time and effort to the sales process. The experience allowed me to stretch in a way I hadn’t before and provided an immense amount of growth that I will take with me throughout my career. The process was also a lot of fun; it felt amazing to close the deal and reach a monumental milestone for our entire StackCommerce family. And now we get to work with the stellar team at TPG to help set up the next part of Stack’s journey in the commerce and content space with both organic growth and continued mergers and acquisitions.
StackCommerce is an online native commerce platform that helps people organically find new products and brands through media and publications they use on a daily basis.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Collaborative.
When a user reported an issue with a very specific part of our software that I wasn’t familiar with, I reached out to my team lead for more information. They gave me directions on how to proceed but I ran into another issue. I coordinated with my team, and they suggested I reach out to a person in another department, who would have more expert knowledge of the subject. After making contact with the other department, I was pointed in the right direction, and I was able to resolve the issue for the customer in a swift manner. It impressed me that all of this happened in less than an hour, and in a hybrid-remote culture, thus making Cloudvirga very collaborative when it comes to solving problems!
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I have only been with Cloudvirga for a few months, but feel like I have been working here for years from the respectful and collaborative way everyone treats me. I was used to an enterprise-style work culture where silos were commonplace amongst departments and team culture varied greatly, but here at Cloudvirga, silos are nonexistent and the pace of work is quick!
Thankfully, my team has a very supportive culture where group calls and messages are frequent enough to help solve difficult problems without being really disruptive to anybody’s work schedule. My manager is incredibly knowledgeable but also interested in my career path here — something I never saw in my years working in a larger, more corporate environment. I have enjoyed being able to contribute to my group’s workload fairly quickly thanks to the daily one-on-ones with senior members as well as the constant offer of help from my supervisor and manager. Cloudvirga is a place that anybody with a hard-working mentality and get-it-done attitude will enjoy since the start-up culture here thrives on successful teamwork and collaboration.
Cloudvirga is a digital mortgage platform aiming to increase transparency and reduce time to close.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Empowering.
At Coco, there is never a ceiling set on an employee’s growth potential. No matter the scope you are hired into, if you’re motivated to stretch and go beyond that scope, you will be empowered to do so. We have sales team members who have stepped up to the plate to project manage large scale launches, graphic designers stretching into complex UX/UI work, and field operators designing custom cup holders for the robots.
No matter what your responsibilities are on paper, you will always be encouraged and empowered to explore other areas of interest and assume leadership positions.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I have been with the company for six months, but my growth and learning has been unbelievable. My CEO has put his trust in me — regardless of my experience measured in years — to use my intellect and empathy to make decisions that further the mission of the company. Along the way, I’ve become a subject matter expert in just about every area of the business and have been able to lead projects in new areas including PR, finance, HR, marketing, legal, web design and more. I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve accomplished in the past six months and am excited to continue my learning and growth alongside Coco.
Coco is a last-mile delivery service that deploys human-operated robots to transport goods from merchants to customers.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Collaborative.
Every day each team demonstrates how imperative they are to the overall success of the company. Whether it’s product, design, engineering, operations, marketing, finance, growth, launch, support or our hardworking ambassadors on the ground, we’re very good at keeping each other accountable and I find it highly motivating.
Objectives and key results are well-defined, allowing everyone to keep a common goal in mind — key for the amount of cross-functional work we do. Meeting agendas are clear to ensure all roadblocks have a chance to get addressed. Accomplishments are shared regularly. It really does help keep everyone engaged and feel like an integral part of our success.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I’ve been with the company only since April of this year, but in the short amount of time since, I’ve observed myself grow immensely. I’ve learned a ton about the logistics of machine learning, commercial real estate and the unique problems enterprises face with mobility management. I’ve also been able to greatly hone my interpersonal skills. As a product manager, I’m constantly learning new ways to communicate as concisely and effectively as possible, and sometimes it can be an interesting challenge when there are many different parties involved, each with their own priorities and distinct lexicons.
Metropolis is an AI-powered, autonomous commerce platform disrupting traditional city infrastructure to empower the future of urban mobility — starting by re-engineering the legacy parking experience from the ground up.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Growth.
Growth is encouraged in so many ways — from our sales to our careers to our own personal development.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I’ve been here for about four and a half years, and I came up as an entry-level copywriter. I grew into a management role, and now I actually run our copywriting department! One of the things I love about Golden Hippo is if you’re a strong performer, you have unlimited room for growth. I’ve been lucky to have lots of mentors here who encouraged my growth over the years.
Golden Hippo works with doctors and industry experts to create new consumer brands and products in the health, beauty and pet care sectors.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Mission-centric.
I have had the privilege of working with a variety of colleagues in the finance and technology sector. Still, Aspiration offers something different — every day, I am humbled by the opportunity to work with a diverse and talented team of professionals who are committed to delivering a compelling experience for our members.
This commitment starts with a combined mission of helping to deliver sustainable financial tools for our members. I see engaged team members working to provide the right level of customer experience, from our regular customer contacts all the way through to solving large and complex problems that will allow us to deliver new and innovative sustainability solutions to our members and the partners we serve daily.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
Aspiration is currently expanding its portfolio of sustainability services by partnering with a diverse set of direct-to-consumer and enterprise partners. This project has been invigorating — I have been able to engage with a diverse group of forward-thinking brands and organizations, which are fast-tracking efforts to bring innovative sustainability solutions to their consumers.
This project has also allowed me to expand my domain expertise in the sustainability technology sector, and while I have always had a personal passion for sustainability, Aspirations’ forward-thinking approach and desire to be one of the leading sustainability brands has allowed me to nurture and expand my professional curiosity. This gas challenged me to grow my thinking on how we bring to market innovative solutions for our members and the partners we serve.
Aspiration is a fintech company that offers socially conscious and sustainable banking, investment and retirement products that help people improve their financial situations.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Gratitude.
I have never seen a company with such an amazing culture around telling people they are doing a good job in a public manner. During our weekly all-company town hall, we reserve a time for “shoutouts and gratitude” where team members get a chance to shout out who has helped them that week, then share something they’re grateful for. Shoutouts and gratitude gets longer every week! In addition, we use Bonusly, where team members can give each other real-time recognition and connect it to one of the company’s values.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
The entire team, including myself, is working on preparing for incredible growth in 2022. My main focus is setting up structures that scale and support our people. This has helped me grow professionally by focusing on future and large-scale operations.
HopSkipDrive is a ride service dedicated to helping schools and families ensure their kids are safely and reliably transported around.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Togetherness.
I am constantly amazed by the full team effort put in by everyone here at Gimbal. Sales can often feel like a solitary mission with individual goal attainment determining your overall success, but I have never felt like I am alone at Gimbal. Oddly enough, in a time where we are all physically separated more than we have ever been, I feel closer to my teammates now more than ever. Our company-wide success throughout the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic is a testament to the team structure and culture we have in place, and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this growth journey.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I’ve been with Gimbal a little over three and a half years and in that time I have been able to consistently grow professionally, from an account director to a senior director of sales on our east coast team. Since day one, I have felt that leadership has had my back. I wish I could say that every quarter here has been nothing but nonstop personal growth but sales in this industry can be a series of peaks and valleys. The sales leaders here stuck by me and had faith that I would get through the valleys.
It’s not all that common to have that sort of undying support within a sales organization — especially in the startup world — but we have seen it pay dividends. Many of my teammates who had the challenge of starting a new sales gig during the pandemic are now shining and crushing their goals.
Gimbal is a marketing and advertising automation platform that translates location data from the real world into targeting, measurement and insight products for their customers.
